Abstract:

Although in mathematical sense the actual meaning of Galilei's experiments conducted at leaning tower of Pisa is that he failed to detect any measurable impact of composition of matter on gravitating bodies, the obvious failure is mistakenly interpreted as experimental confirmation of lack of the impact instead. Galilei did not really perform internal validity checks of his experiments, because he did not ensure that he actually measured what he was supposed to measure. However, a modern experiment devised to test the impact of large mass on gravitational phenomena has revealed presence of (formerly unanticipated) extraneous frequency decrease in rays coming from Taurus A, when they passed close to our Sun (i.e. near occultation). The experiment has effectively confirmed that density of matter of the mass source of locally dominant gravitational field (which was our Sun‟s field) affects gravitational interactions happening on equipotential surfaces surrounding gravity center of the field. Also very similar experiment involving radio waves, which too exhibited (formerly unexpected) frequency decrease when they traveled along practically equipotential surface of Earth, has reaffirmed that conclusion. Hence contrary to Galilei, effects of nonradial (i.e. tangential and/or binormal) components of radial gravitational force fields depend (inversely) on (equipotential exposure to) the, assumed as practically constant and uniformly distributed, density of matter of the mass source of the local field.